1. Who is the nation's top freshman?
Troy NickersonDustin Schlatter of Minnesota, also a true freshman, is 22-1 this season -- with his lone loss coming to No. 5 Mark DiSalvo of Central Michigan. Like Nickerson, Schlatter will have his hands full in his opening round match-up against No. 3 Jon Masa of Hofstra.
Steve Luke of Michigan, a redshirt freshman, has a 7-2 record and won the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December, which included a win over Alex Tirapelle of Illinois. If Both Michigan and Iowa win their opening round matches, Luke will see NCAA runner-up Joe Johnston in the second round.
Redshirt freshman Brandon Mason of Oklahoma State comes in with a 13-5 record at 174, but is coming off a bad 13-0 loss to Mark Perry of Iowa. Mason could potentially meet top-ranked Ben Askren of Missouri in the second round (if the Tigers can get by Arizona State).
Obviously, since not all of the top freshmen in the country will be in Cedar Falls this weekend, it wouldn't be fair to use this event as an accurate indicator of who "the best" freshman is, but it should prove to be a good measuring stick for the four freshmen mentioned above. Other freshmen who have made an impact this season include Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro, Mike Poeta of Illinois, and J Jaggers of Ohio State.
2. Is Jon Masa ready to challenge for a national title?
Masa, a senior 149-pounder for Hofstra, was granted a one semester Olympic waiver by the NCAA in late November. The Puerto Rico native is a two-time All-American with an abundance of talent. When he's "on," he's one of the best wrestlers in the country -- regardless of weight class. But other times, he wrestles as if he is bored, or merely going through the motions. Case in point, last season he lost to Jeff Harrison of Northern Iowa, 13-4. Admittedly, Harrison was a solid wrestler, but never an All-American, and not someone who Masa should have lost to by nine points! He also lost to non-All-Americans Rayes Gonzalez of Boston and Jeff Owens of Cal Poly. As further of evidence of his inconsistency, he lost to Dustin Manotti of Cornell last season, 6-4 and 16-3. There is no question that Manotti, a three-time All-American, is a very good wrestler, but how can someone as talented as Masa lose by 13 points? Not only did he go on to avenge that loss to Manotti (at the NCAA Championships), but he beat him 11-3! He then proceeded to beat a tough Eric Tannenbaum, 8-1, to finish third at the NCAA Championships.
He has been victorious in his only two matches sine returning to the Pride lineup (he did, in Masa-like fashion, lose some matches he shouldn't have while wrestling unattached earlier this season). But in his first match back, he defeated Tannenbaum, 13-4. Now the question is whether or not he can avoid letdown and challenge for the national title. He'll see super frosh Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota in the first round -- in what should be a very intiguing match-up.
3. Who is the front-runner in Division I for the coveted Dan Hodge Trophy presented by WIN Magazine?
As I see it right now, looking strictly at Division I, there are five wrestlers who could win this award this season. Those wrestlers include Ben Askren of Missouri (174), Nate Gallick of Iowa State (141), Cole Konrad of Minnesota (Hwt), Ryan Churella of Michigan (165), and Steve Mocco of Oklahoma State (Hwt).
Askren, in my opinion, is without question the front-runner for this award right now. He has completely dominated everyone he has faced this season. He is 26-0 with 20 pins. With his next victory, he will break his own school record for consecutive wins, a mark that he set last season. However, he has yet to meet the No. 2 and No. 3-ranked wrestlers in his weight class, Jake Herbert of Northwestern and Mark of Perry of Iowa, respectively, but could potentially face them this weekend.
Gallick is a world-class freestyler who has yet to reach his collegiate wrestling goals. The Arizona native, who has placed fifth and second at the NCAA Championships, is currently 19-0 this season with a Midlands title and a victory over his nemesis, Teyon Ware of Oklahoma, at the NWCA All-Star Classic.
Konrad is 20-0 this season. More importantly, though, he toppled "The Bear", Steve Mocco of Oklahoma State, for the first time in his career at the NWCA All-Star Classic.
Ryan ChurellaMocco, last year's Hodge winner, remains undefeated (not counting his exhibition loss to Konrad) at 11-0. If he is able to run the table the rest of the way, without losing to Konrad, he could become the second wrestler (after Cael Sanderson) to win multiple Hodge Trophies.
4. Will wrestling fans show up to a premier collegiate event in a hotbed wrestling state?
Wrestling fans often complain about the lack of national coverage the sport receives. I'll admit, I've often complained about it myself. But until we (as wrestling fans) fill up arenas and give the national media outlets (like ESPN) a reason to care about our sport, it will continue to be an afterthought to people outside the wrestling community. Matt Krumrie of TheWrestlingMall.com wrote a very interesting article in December entitled, "Wrestling fans, where are you? Disappointing attendance bad for the sport." The article took a look at the poor attendance figures throughout the country this season. In 2002, Minnesota wrestled against Iowa at the Target Center and drew a record-setting 15,646 fans. This season, Iowa was hoping to shatter that record in a home dual against Oklahoma State last Saturday night. It didn't happen. In fact, the dual drew just over half (8,157) of their goal.
It will be interesting to see how well this weekend's event draws in wrestling-rich Iowa.
5. Who, if anyone, can give Oklahoma State the best run for their money at the NCAA Championships?
Being that this event is a dual meet format, and the NCAA Championships use a tournament format, the National Duals aren't the best indicator of what will happen in March. Some teams, like Michigan and Cornell, appear to be much better tournament teams than dual meet teams because of the strength of their top individuals. However, this event will allow each of the top teams to showcase their talent against other top teams. The only team ranked in the top five that will not be in Cedar Falls is No. 3 Illinois. Every single dual meet that will take place this weekend will have great individual match-ups.
At the conclusion of this event, we'll have a pretty good idea of how great the Michigan middleweights are -- and whether or not they might be able to score enough points to at least challenge the Cowboys. We'll have a pretty good idea as to whether or not the Schlatter brothers, Dustin and CP, can beat highly-ranked wrestlers and challenge for national titles, which would give the Gophers a huge boost. And we'll have a pretty good idea as to whether or not Oklahoma has the overall depth (outside of their top two wrestlers, Sam Hazewinkel and Teyon Ware) to be a threat at the NCAA Championships.
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